2005 coolant leak

[BGlidewell]

Bglidewell, no I haven't fixed the leak yet. I bought the seal and haven't got around to it. I need to remove the A/C compressor and I expect to have to do some cleaning on the block side to get a good seal. Will probably not do it until the next coolant change in a couple of years. The leakage is not that significant but it does show up where you state, either dripps off the cornoer of the A/C compressor bracket or the oil pan flange. Ken Irwin

I wonder it maybe it's loose, did you or could you access bolts to tighten?

 

[Kirwin]

Thats a thought. I'd have to remove the compressor to get to the bolts anyway so I think I'll just go ahead and replace the seal and verify that the block and bracket surfaces are not corroded or someting else that may cause it to leak again. K D

 

[BGlidewell]

I looked at the bolts holding the compressor mount. You can get a bite on one of them but the one closer to the alternator would be tough without the compressor off. I wonder if you could take the compressor lose without a purge and refill...

My leak is BAAD now. With the engine running it is constantly dripping coolant around the crank and onto the oilpan flange. I can see with a flashlight that it is coming from under the water pump. Although the water pump did not have any slop in it when I took the belt off, I'm guessing it is bad anyway...

The truck is not roadworthy now so as soon as I get some time I will be taking the belt off and replacing the WP with the gates unit I bought last month. Hope this fixes it. No full time work makes things like this tough...

 

[Kry226]

My bet is that your WP is bad and nothing more. I just changed mine a couple of weeks ago and there was no slop in the bad one, and the drip was coming from the same place. I am now on my third WP, with the OE lasting 80K, and the second (replaced by dealer under warranty) only lasting 50K.

$40 from Geno's and 20 minutes and I was good to go... until the next time.

 

[BGlidewell]

My bet is that your WP is bad and nothing more. I just changed mine a couple of weeks ago and there was no slop in the bad one, and the drip was coming from the same place. I am now on my third WP, with the OE lasting 80K, and the second (replaced by dealer under warranty) only lasting 50K.

$40 from Geno's and 20 minutes and I was good to go... until the next time.

Thanks for the insight!

 

[BGlidewell]

My bet is that your WP is bad and nothing more. I just changed mine a couple of weeks ago and there was no slop in the bad one, and the drip was coming from the same place. I am now on my third WP, with the OE lasting 80K, and the second (replaced by dealer under warranty) only lasting 50K.



$40 from Geno's and 20 minutes and I was good to go... until the next time.

Thanks for the insight!

 

[LNaugle]

have you checked the engine oil cooler behind the oil filter?

 

[rashwor]

I agree. The water pump will start leaking before there is any slack in it. The seals go bad long before the bearings. These are not old '60 and '70 style water pumps anymore. These are the "new improved models, no slop, but its still bad" style pumps. I bet the water pump is the issue.



I changed mine a couple of months ago and there was no slack to be found, but it was leaking significantly.

 

[BGlidewell]

have you checked the engine oil cooler behind the oil filter?

I looked all over but did not see any leaks besides below the WP. Thanks

 

[BGlidewell]

Short answer: It was the WP.

Long answer: While I was taking the WP off, I noticed the top bolt was only finger tight. I thought I'd get out easy on this one and just snug it up. Replaced the belt, crank it back up, still leaking but now no way to see any drips except around the crank and front edge of the oil-pan. Took the belt off again and removed the WP. Now how to get it out of the truck? Removed the 10mm nut holding the air box on the front of the truck and popped the two rear studs out from their rubber seats from underneath. There was juuuuuuust enough room to squeeze it out towards the passenger side that way. It took a few cuss-words to get the new pump back on since the holes were hard for me to get the bolts back into. All buttoned back up now. On the work bench the old WP (original) has metal fins and a very SLIGHT amount of side-play in the shaft, almost imperceptible. What an adventure!


I notice water condensation dripping from the A/C compressor. I saw this before the WP replacement but only while I was troubleshooting this. Never noticed it before... could be I was just paying more attention.


Thanks to all of you for your help and encouragement!

 

[Kry226]

Glad you got it fixed.